G

G (minuscule: g) is the seventh letter of the Latin alphabet. It is used in the modern English alphabet, and in many other western European languages and languages around the world. In English, we call this letter "gee," and we say it like /ˈdʒiː/.

The small, lowercase version of G can look different depending on how it is written. One way is called the "single-storey" or "opentail" g, which is often used in handwriting and in books for children. This shape is also common in many simple, clean-looking fonts, such as Helvetica. The other way is called the "double-storey" or "looptail" g, and it is used in more formal fonts like Times. Both ways are correct and both are used in writing.

History

The letter G comes from the Greek letter gamma. The Greeks used gamma for a specific sound. The Etruscans and later the Latins adopted it. Over time, the Latin letter C started to represent a different sound, so a new letter was needed.

The letter G was added to the Latin alphabet around 230 BCE by Spurius Carvilius Ruga, an early Roman teacher. He added G to show the difference between two similar sounds.

The lowercase g can be written in two ways: with one loop or two loops. These forms have been used in different kinds of writing for many years, and today they are used depending on the style of font.

Use in writing systems

See also: Hard and soft G

English

In English, the letter g can be used alone or with other letters. When it is alone, it can make different sounds. It often makes a hard g sound, like in goose or game. It can also make a soft g sound, like in giant or ginger, especially when it comes before i, e, or y.

Sometimes g makes a special sound in words we borrowed from French, like in rouge or beige.

Other languages

Many languages, like French and Spanish, also use g in two ways—hard and soft. The soft sound of g changes a little depending on the language. For example, in French, it can sound like the j in judge.

Some languages, like Dutch, don’t use the hard g sound. Instead, their g makes a softer, friction-like sound.

Other systems

In a special alphabet used by language experts, g stands for a specific sound made at the back of the mouth. There is also a special version of g that represents a similar sound made even further back in the mouth.

Other uses

G can also mean a unit prefix. It stands for 1,000,000,000 times something.

Related characters

Ancestors, descendants and siblings

The letter G has many related symbols and letters from different writing systems. It comes from the ancient Semitic letter Gimel. The Latin letter C is the parent of G, and C itself comes from the Greek letter Gamma. There are many variations and related symbols, such as the script small G and several special letters used in phonetic studies like the reversed script g and turned g. The Cyrillic alphabet also has a similar letter called Ge. Other related letters include Yogh, Gamma, and Insular g, used in historic texts like the Ormulum. There are also special capital forms and hooked letters used in phonetic transcription to represent certain sounds.

Ligatures and abbreviations

Some symbols related to G are used as currency or unit signs. For example, ₲ stands for the Paraguayan guaraní, and ㎏ is the kilogram symbol used in the CJK Compatibility block.

Other representations

Computing

The letter G has special codes in Unicode that help computers understand it. These codes are the same as the older ASCII codes. Some of these codes include:

• U+0047 for the big G
• U+0067 for the small g
• U+0261 for a special small g shape
• U+A7AC for a special big G shape
• U+FF27 for a wide big G
• U+FF47 for a wide small g

There are also many other forms of G with special marks added to them, which can be shown in two different ways in Unicode.

Other